Shofar FTP Archive File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-56.01

Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-56.01
Last-Modified: 1997/11/09
FIFTY-SIXTH DAY
MONDAY, 11TH FEBRUARY, 1946
[Page 222]
COL. POKROVSKY: The Tribunal has at its disposal the diaries
of the defendant Frank.
In the one marked "Diary of the Year 1943, V," we find on
Pages 1070-72 an important entry; in the Russian translation
this passage is on Page 5 of the addenda to the "Excerpts
from Frank's Diaries," and on Page 321 of your document
book, marked in pencil. I quote this passage:
"Krakow, 23rd October, 1943.
The Governor General makes a report at the
Administrative Academy on 'The Leadership Principle in
Government.' From the point of view of Constitutional
and International law, the Government General, as an
appendage to Greater Germany, constitutes a part of the
territory over which the power of Greater Germany in
Europe extends. The sovereignty over this territory
belongs to the Fuehrer of Greater Germany and on his
behalf it is exercised by the Governor General who, as
the deputy of the Fuehrer, possesses all his powers."
I would like to inform you, Your Honors, of two more
documents of a strictly official nature.
In the Reichsgesetzblatt for 1939, Part I, Page 2077, Page
333 of your document book, presented by us as Exhibit USSR
296 is published the "Fuehrer's and Reich Chancellor's
Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish
Territory," dated 12th October, 1939.
I shall read into the record paragraph 2 of this decree. It
consists of two sub-paragraphs:
"Paragraph 2:
1. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Frank as Governor-
General of the occupied Polish territories.
2. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart as Deputy
Governor-General."
In the same Reichsgesetzblatt, but this time for 1940, Part
I, Page 399, is published a decree regarding the power to
grant pardons in the occupied Polish territories. It is
registered with the Tribunal as Document 289 USSR and is on
Page 336 of the document book. It reads:
"In the occupied Polish territories I delegate to the
Governor-General of occupied Polish territories the
power to confirm death sentences as well as pardons or
to reject applications for pardons, with the right
further to delegate his powers."
The power of life and death, the sovereign prerogative, was
entrusted, in a Poland occupied by the Hitlerites, to the
defendant Frank.
It would not be misplaced to recall that it was this same
Hitler who had said that he would show, by the concrete
example of a mutual relationship between the Polish and the
German peoples, that such a form of intercourse had been
found "which would usefully serve the cause of peace as well
as the welfare of both nations."
[Page 223]
I have spoken of the kind of "example" that was intended,
and what the welfare was to which reference had been made.
The 6th April, 1941, was marked by a new crime planned and
carefully prepared beforehand by the Hitlerite conspirators.
Without any warning or declaration of war, they attacked
Yugoslavia.
The attack on Yugoslavia was a gross breach of Article 3 of
the Hague Convention of 18th October, 1907, and of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact of 27th August, 1928. The delegations of
Great Britain and of the U.S.A. have already submitted to
the Tribunal a considerable number of documents referring to
the subject of the treacherous attack on Yugoslavia. I have
only to submit a few new proofs and to establish a
connection between these new documents and those already
read into the record. Official German documents enable us to
reconstitute events with exceptional vividness. In this case
German pedantry turns against the authors of the criminal
plan.
On 27th March, 1941, Adolf Hitler held a special conference
regarding the situation in Yugoslavia. On the same day he
signed a top secret Directive 025, "for the High Command
(Oberbefehlshaber) only." Both documents, filed as Document
1746-PS, are among the evidence already accepted by the
Tribunal.
Sub-paragraph 2 of Directive 025 has already been quoted in
full ill the speech of the Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.
The first sub-paragraph of this document was also read into
the record on 7th December, 1945. I should like to add a few
more lines and read paragraph 3 into the record. This
passage is on Page 337 of the document book. It states as
follows:
"...in detail I order the following:
a) As soon as the concentration of sufficient forces is
concluded and meteorological conditions permit, all
Yugoslav surface installations and Belgrade must be
destroyed by continuous day and night air attacks.
b) If possible, simultaneously, but under no
circumstances sooner, Operation "Marita" must be
started, with the primary limited objective to seize
the harbor of salonika and the Dios mountains."
I believe that three points should be stressed here:
1) The intention of carrying out the total destruction of
the capital of the State.
2) The correlation between the aggression against Yugoslavia
and the aggression against another country, Greece. The
aggression against Greece was coded, as the Tribunal knows,
under the name of Operation "Marita."
3) The necessity to complete the concentration of German
Forces, as well as meteorological conditions, were the
factors that determined the time limits for the attack.
As in all previous cases of criminal Fascist aggression, we
see one and the same thing -- the criminal intent of the
predatory invader, treachery, and cold calculation.
Preparations for the final moves, which had been carried on
over a very long period, followed the customary Hitler
routine, already disclosed by the prosecutors: Fifth Column
activities, the use of the protection of the German minority
as a slogan, and the lying practice of peaceable
declarations combined with unceasing preparations for
invasion.
As I have already stated the preparation of the final crime
was carried on over a very long period and followed the
customary Hitler routine, already disclosed by the
prosecutors.
On 27th March, 1941, on the very day when Hitler signed
Directive 025, he personally conducted, in Berlin, a special
conference on the situation in Yugoslavia. The minutes of
this conference were presented by the American prosecution
on 4th December, 1945, as Document 1746-PS.
[Page 224]
Other documents relating to this conference have also been
registered under the same number. At the conference, the
objective was determined with absolute precision and a plan
of action was presented. You will, Your Honors, find the
passage I have quoted on Page 349 of the document book.
Hitler declared:
"We are not going to wait for any declarations of
loyalty by the new Government, but to carry out all
preparations for the destruction of the Yugoslav Armed
Forces and of Yugoslavia itself as a national unit. It
is especially important from the political point of
view that the blow against Yugoslavia should be carried
out with the utmost violence and that its military
destruction should be effected with lightning speed."
And a little further:
"No diplomatic inquiries will be made and no ultimatum
presented.... The attack will start as soon as the
necessary supplies and troops are ready."
Thus, Hitler was not in the least interested in the factual
attitude of one or the other Yugoslav Government toward
Germany, but in the factual destruction of Yugoslavia as a
State; and he strove to accomplish this destruction with
cruelty and lightning speed.

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